Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is one method of treating certain wounds or sores on people. In general, a specialty dressing (or bandage) is placed over a wound site, and connected to a pump system. The pump system provides suction, creating a negative pressure under the bandage at the wound site. Exudates and other materials are removed from the wound site under the influence of the negative pressure. The NPWT wound dressings are single patient use and purchased as needed.
The pump systems, which at retail purchase are quite expensive, are generally leased from a medical device supply company (DME) to an “end user” for the period of time necessary to heal the chronic wound, typically 6-8 weeks. The “end-user” can either be a patient, whose insurance carrier makes the lease payments, or a “facility,” such as a nursing home or hospital, which will lease the equipment on behalf of the patient. Given the relatively short term of use for any one patient, it does not make any financial sense for either a patient or a treating facility to own such equipment.
The pumping devices are designed to be durable and capable of being reused across the care of multiple patients. However, being complex electromechanical systems, they can break down or otherwise fail, requiring both the end users and the leasing company to maintain a sufficient level of inventory. This can be both costly and require a large amount of space for both the leasing company and the end users.
Moreover, given that the structural component of the system that performs the actual pumping of air, the pump, is believed to be the most likely element to fail in the pumping system, it would be beneficial for all interested parties, DME and end-users, to be able to employ a system that minimizes the cost associated with repairing and using these NPWT pumping systems, and otherwise avoid disposing of the functioning elements in the pumping device.
The present invention is directed to resolving these and other matters.